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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Margarita Cheesecake

Photo courtesy of B.J. LaCasse, Fine Texas Cuisine

The Lure The Finished Product

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite... They say third times a charm. There must be some truth to that, because it took me that long to get this cake right. I've made lots of cheesecakes over the years, but always keep coming back to my old favorite develop by Craig Claiborne for the New York Times. I thought for sure I'd found one to best it when I came across a recipe for a Margarita Cheesecake in Jon Bonnell's, Fine Texas Cuisine. While the directions were imprecise, I thought I could work my way through the omissions and still come up with a gorgeous cake. It didn't work that way. No pan size was given and I learned, to my chagrin, that a standard 9-inch springform pan wasn't large enough for the volume of batter the recipe produced. When the three hours it should have taken to bake the cake turned to four, I realized that that a convection oven was probably used to test the recipe. The biggest disappointment was the appearance of the cake. It bore no resemblance to the gorgeous photograph that lured me to the recipe in the first place. I realize that recipes used in restaurants don't always transpose to the home kitchen. This may have been one of those cases, but it is clear to me that the recipe was never tested in a home kitchen or these omissions would have been caught. The thing is, I didn't pay for the cookbook or three pounds of cream cheese to learn that this way. I groused a bit, actually I cussed a lot, but I was determined to make a Margarita Cheesecake. I did that by going back to ground zero. I added orange liqueur, tequila, lime juice and zest to Craig Claiborne's recipe and ended up with a fabulous cheesecake that's worthy of the fifth of May or Mother's Day. Here's the recipe that worked. Margarita Cheesecake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by Craig Claiborne

Ingredients:1⁄2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature1 tablespoon finely grated lime zest2-1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice2-1/2 tablespoons orange liqueur2-1/2 tablespoons tequila2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature1 teaspoon vanilla extract1-3⁄4 cups sugar4 eggs1/3 cup graham cracker crumbsDirections:1) Move oven rack to lowest position in oven and preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 3-inch deep 8" round one-piece cake pan all the way up to and including its rim with butter.2) Combine lime zest, lime juice, orange liqueur and tequilla in a small bowl. Set aside.3) Place cream cheese into bowl of a standing mixer and beat on medium high, scraping sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula often, until completely smooth. Beat in vanilla and sugar well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, but do not overbeat. Stir in juice and liqueur mixture lemon zest and juice with a spatula or spoon.4) Generously spray buttered cake pan with nonstick spray, then pour in batter. Place cake pan inside a larger 3-inch deep pan. Place it in oven and pour hot water into larger pan, about 1-1/2-inches deep. Bake until top of cake is rich golden brown and feels dry when touched, about 1-1/2 to 1-1/2 hours (cake will be soft inside and become firm when cooled and refrigerated).5) Lift cake pan out of water and place it on a cake rack. Let cake cool in pan for 3 hours. Cover pan with plastic wrap. Place a flat plate on top, invert, and remove pan. Sprinkle bottom of cake with graham cracker crumbs. Gently place another flat plate on top of crumbs. Very carefully invert again (without squashing cake), leave plastic wrap in place, and refrigerate cake overnight. Very carefully remove plastic wrap. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Cook's Note: This is a soft cheesecake and can be difficult to cleanly slice. I actually put the cake in the freezer for an hour before cutting to assure clean looking slices.

this may be the best looking cheese cake I have every seen.I think cheese cake and margarita is the perfect marriage. This I will have to try! Thank you for your creativity and for sharing your results.

I love cheesecake and now you have done all the ground work I will give this a try. I hate it when things don't go according to plan especially if you have followed the directions to a T. Such a waste! Diane

Fabulous cake, Mary. I am with you on those badly written recipes. Just went through it myself with a French cake... no pan size and the temperature was all wrong. Made me so mad. What are they thinking? Glad that Craig pulled you through to the other side with a great base recipe. All that lime sounds like heaven. Thanks for the great recipe walk through!!

I wish that all my recipes will be at its best at my 3rd attempt but many did not :D Well, have to Keep Learning Keep Smiling :D Your cheesecake looks so tempting. Hope to make someday. Thanks for sharing. Have a lovely Sunday.

Mary, I'm rather known for my cheesecakes and can totally understand the desire to get it down right! A Margerita cheesecake! I'm definitely going to make this for our neighborhood party this weekxoxo Pattie

I hate it when cookbooks don't quite test their recipes in a realistic way! I'm so glad you figured out how to make this work, though, because this cheesecake sounds delicious. Way better to enjoy margaritas like this, in my opinion.

I've come across those kinds of recipes also in my time. But unlike you, I always gave up. You rock!! This looks absolutely divine and after consuming it, it's would look even BETTER for second helpings, I'm sure.

Wow....that is a beautiful cheesecake. I alreadly love deep dish margarita pizza. Thanks for the recipe as well. Keep up the great work with your articles and please stop by my health blog sometime. The web address is http://healthy-nutrition-facts.blogspot.com/.

Thank you for your kind words on my blog. I've already bookmarked your page. Your recipes and pictures are gorgeous! I'm one of those folks that collects cookbooks (and cooking blogs) but ends up making the same old same old. Maybe someday...

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